Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has said the 'INDIA janbandhan' is for fighting national elections and has a "constructive agenda", as he exuded confidence that the group would overcome the challenges facing it, including the "desperate attempts" by Home Minister Amit Shah to break the opposition parties.Also read | BJP’s two-thirds majority bid aimed at scrapping reservation, alleges CongressIn an exclusive interview with PTI Videos, Mr. Ramesh said the split in the TMC was a "setback" while the switching of six of the nine MPs of the Shiv Sena (UBT) was something the opposition bloc had not anticipated a couple of months ago."But it shows the desperation of the Home Minister that he is resorting to these tactics for breaking opposition parties," the Congress general secretary communications said.Noting that the INDIA bloc had a "good meeting" on June 8, Mr. Ramesh said it is a group that has a "constructive agenda" for the economy, for the Centre-State relations, for protecting the Constitution and on foreign policy."Over the next couple of months, we will have to face challenges," he said.Elaborating on the dynamics of the opposition, Mr. Ramesh pointed out that when the Constitution amendment bill was taken up in Parliament in the last session, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) voted with the opposition."You know against the Aam Aadmi Party, we are fighting in Delhi, we are fighting in Gujarat and more importantly we are fighting in Punjab... The CPI(M) and the CPI were with us on the delimitation bill but we fought them tooth and nail in Kerala and we also fought them in West Bengal," he said."So I think when it comes to the INDIA group, it is for fighting national elections but it so happens that there are partners [in states as well]. For example, we are partners with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, we are partners with the RJD in Bihar, we are partners with the JMM, in fact we are in government with the JMM, in Jharkhand," he said."Rather than look at the past, I prefer to look at the future. We have challenges, what has happened to the TMC is a setback. Certainly what's happened to the Shiv Sena (UBT) is something that we had not anticipated say a couple of months ago. But it shows the desperation of the Home Minister that he is resorting to these tactics and the strategy for breaking opposition parties," Mr. Ramesh said, exuding confidence that the opposition parties will overcome such challenges.Asked whether Rahul Gandhi is opposition's best bet and whether he possesses all the qualities of a good Prime Minister, Mr. Ramesh said, "The last I know and the last I read, we run a parliamentary system. We are based on political parties. Political parties have ideologies, manifestos, candidates, symbols and of course political parties have leaders but we are not a presidential form of government where we're selecting any individual. We're selecting a party.""Parties fight, parties unite, and parties will select their leaders. So I think it's the party system. We are not a presidential system. We are a party system," he said.On the turnaround for the Congress in the 2024 polls, Mr. Ramesh credited Rahul Gandhi's Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Manipur to Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra."I think the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Mr. Rahul Gandhi was a transformational moment not only for the Congress party, not only for Mr. Rahul Gandhi himself but also for the nation's politics and I think our turnaround really started with the Udaipur Chintan Shivir that took place in May of 2022 and then on the 7th of September 2022 from Kanyakumari Mr. Rahul Gandhi launches his 140-day long 4,000 kilometer-long Bharat Jodo Yatra that culminated on the 30th of January in Srinagar 2023," Mr. Ramesh told PTI.It was during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which in many ways consolidated the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the 'paanch nyay' came into being for the 2024 election that again was pivoted around Mr. Gandhi, he said.Then the entire narrative that got built up that the Constitution was under threat and that the 'iss baar 400 paar' was really a slogan for changing the Constitution, he said.They were asking for '400 paar' as they wanted to end reservations — that was actually the one-line narrative that was presented by Mr. Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, he said."So I would ascribe the turnaround that we had in 2024 to that. We reduced Mr. Modi to a 'minority Prime Minister'. You know he beats his chest and says I'm a third term Prime Minister and I've defeated Mr. Nehru's record. Mr. Nehru became Prime Minister first in 1947 but the first general election was held in 1952. In 1952, 1957 and 1962, in all three elections, he gets a resounding majority but Mr. Modi is a minority Prime Minister," Mr. Ramesh said."Mr. Nehru was a decisively elected Prime Minister thrice. Whereas Mr. Modi has got his majority only twice, not in the third time. He's been reduced to a minority Prime Minister," Mr. Ramesh added.